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Mittwoch, 1. Dezember 2004 |
Another Reason To Use Macs. As if one needs more reasons, this one is a standout; according to a USA Today and Avantgarde joint study, it takes only 4 short minutes
for a clean Windows XP SP 1 machine connected to the net without a
firewall to become part of some spammer's zombie network. A Mac set up
similarly was hit just as hard by spammers trying to get in, but
completed the test unscathed.
Boy, do I like my Mac!
via SlashDot. [Gadgetopia]
9:47:26 PM 
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Wanna Date? Or a Plum or Lemon?. 
Lemon Date is an online dating service that has moved into reputation management.
Reputation management is going to be a hot item on everyone's agenda
soon - and not just dating - so I thought it worth looking at.
After your date, you're invited to review on the members-only
website how the date went and what you think of your partner for the
evening (were they a lemon or a plum?). Membership costs $9.95 a month,
which could be money well-spent if it stops you going out with a bunny
boiler or a psycho.
But, as with all reputation management issues, it begs the question; who is the judge?
As an illustration, Andrea goes out with Brian for the evening.
Let's assume they're both normal (whatever that is), quite attractive,
polite, healthy, gregarious - they should, in other words, hit it off.
But Andrea finds the chemistry is wrong. She just doesn't fancy
Brian. Brian thinks Andrea is dead cool, very sexy and thinks they get
on really well.
The next day, Andrea gets into work with a small headache. Her boss
shouts at her about a missed deadline, her best friend makes catty
remark about her lack of a boyf and her mother emails that she forgot
her Dad's birthday.
Suddenly, she's having shitty day. She goes online and writes
Brian's review. If she'd been in a good mood it'd be along the lines of
"hey, reeeelly cute, nice guy, but not for me. Highly recommended,
girls!"
She's not though. She's pissed. "Sorry, but I really didn't like this guy and the date was a complete wash out".
Note, there's nothing sinister here, just a different version of the truth.
Meanwhile, Brian goes online that afternoon and gets an email from a
(platonic) girlfriend saying "omigodbrian! what a cow! did u see what
she wrote about u!??"
Brian goes from lust to livid in a microsecond. And retorts with a very scathing review of Andrea.
You see the problem?
And who gets to decide who's right (if either)? And who do Andrea and Brian sue when they find they can't get dates any longer?
There's a nice round up of "Advanced Online Dating" sites, like Lemon Date at Springwise which including sites that also arrange bodyguards, sites for veggies, gamers and even services that provide profile improvement consultancy or will write one for you for $79. [The Mobile Technology Weblog]
9:45:47 PM
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Moroder Week: Pt 1: "I didn't know he did that"
This is absolutely my favourite picture that I've ever published in
Music Thing. Giorgio Moroder, sitting at a Moog Modular in some kind of
70s loft, dressed like a bottle of Jean Paul Gaultier perfume, pointing. It's possible
that he's saying "I don't know, Donna, just wail somethingÖ 'I feel
love'? Anything, really, I'm just trying to get this bassline right.
No, listen, it's harder than it sounds."
Truth is, I don't know anything else about the picture, but thanks to Tommy Walker III for sending it to me. This is what I do know about Giorgio Moroder:
Giorgio made the first pop record to feature a Moog synth: Chicory Tip's 'Son of My Father' in 1972 [iTunes link] It's awful.
I already knew that Giorgio had made three cool records: Donna Summer's I Feel Love and
'Love to Love you Baby' (iTunes only charge 99¢ for the 16 minute version), and 'Chase', from the Midnight Express soundtrack. Oh, and 'Together in Electric Dreams' with Phil Oakey, I suppose.
I didn't realise that he also made these records: Irene Cara's Flashdance (unfortunately only available in a Latin version on iTunes). Berlin's 'Take My Breath Away', Kenny Loggins 'Danger Zone' (which was originally supposed to be recorded by Toto), Blondie's 'Call Me', the entire Scarface soundtrack, Limahl's 'Never Ending Story', Falco & Brigitte Nielsen's 'Body Next To Body' (Yes, that's Giorgio, Brigitte and Falco)
He also produced and co-wrote Sigue Sigue Sputnik's 'Love Missile F1-11'.
Giorgio's synth programmer was Harold Faltermeyer, who did
'Axel F' on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. There's a delightful
rock/trance cover version here
There's an epic Giorgio discography here.
- Tom [Music thing]
9:23:27 PM
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Bionic Workware's self-regulating temperature jacket: It ain't pretty.  You[base ']d probably have to be pretty cold to
actually wear the fashion faux-pas-waiting-to-happen that is Danish designer Alex Soza[base ']s self-regulating
temperature jacket. So what if the micro-computer inside(powered by a 6-volt battery) lets you program how
much heat the jacket generates and the outer layer expands and contracts to fit your temperature, the thing looks like
someone cut a pillow down the middle and stuffed the model inside. Didn[base ']t anyone tell him clothes are supposed to
help people look the opposite of bad?
[Via Near Near Future]
[Engadget]
5:43:01 PM
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New: Movable Type 3 Bible Desktop Edition. Hot off the presses: Movable Type 3 Bible Desktop Edition,
my new 410-page book on the current edition of the weblog publishing
software. I wrote the book to encourage Movable Type webloggers to get
into the advanced publishing capabilities of the software, such as
template design, plug-in programming, and XML syndication with Atom and
RSS.
 For
the book, I spent six months combing over the Movable Type
documentation, support forums, source code, and database. I stalked
several coders who use the software avidly -- Richard Eriksson, Brad Choate, and Jay Allen
could have gotten restraining orders -- to see how people were taking
the software beyond the basic publishing capabilities that users master
quickly on their own.
This is my first book for Wiley, which crams 102,000 words
into an edition small enough to carry around. I have never
singlehandedly written a longer book that sells for less: at a price of
$16.49 on Amazon, you're getting 60 words per penny.
To mark the occasion, I'm giving away five of my author's
copies this week. If you'd like to be eligible to win, post a comment
on this entry or write about it on your weblog, linking to its permalink so I don't overlook it. I'll also pay the postage to anywhere that I can send it for under $10.
Amazon top-1,000 reviewer Jack Harrington covered the book last week:
Anyone who uses Movable Type on a regular
basis needed the book. It covers all of the basics around installation,
setting up blogs and writing entries. But then it goes into more
advanced topics like alternating the template and adding plugins. And
even more advanced topics like RSS, Atom, and writing your own plugins.
This is thorough book that is well written and will cover everything
you need to know to blog with Movable Type.
You can read the first chapter on Wiley's Web site. [Workbench]
5:16:14 PM
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© Copyright 2005 Joerg Rheinboldt.
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